PlainPatent

CPC technology class · F02

F02B - Internal-combustion Piston Engines

Internal-combustion piston engines; combustion engines in general. 11,001 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

11,001
US patents granted
F02
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
-14%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Internal-combustion Piston Engines ranks #162 of 670 CPC technology areas - 11,001 US patents granted since 2015, with filing down 14% over five years.

#162
of 670 CPC technology areas
11,001
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Ford Global
leading assignee (1,028)
-14%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Ford Global Technologies, Llc (1,028 patents)

CPC subclass F02B - INTERNAL-COMBUSTION PISTON ENGINES; COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL - covers 11,001 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class F02 (COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in F02B is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Ford Global Technologies, Llc leads with 1,028 patents, followed by Borgwarner Inc. at 344 grants and Mazda Motor Corporation at 317.

Filing activity in F02B is down 14% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a relatively steady filing pace. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is F02B innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in F02B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 14% versus 2015–2019.

05001,0001,500 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 298

Who leads F02B?

The 12 most active assignees in INTERNAL-COMBUSTION PISTON ENGINES; COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Ford Global is the most active filer in F02B, holding 1,028 of the 11,001 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass F02B
Rank Company Patents in F02B
#1 Ford Global Technologies, Llc 1,028
#2 Borgwarner Inc. 344
#3 Mazda Motor Corporation 317
#4 Caterpillar Inc. 309
#5 Cummins Inc. 240
#6 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger, Ltd. 178
#7 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. 174
#8 IHI Corporation 167
#9 Garrett Transportation I Inc. 131
#10 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. 126
#11 Yamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha 126
#12 Volvo Truck Corporation 115
#13 Achates Power, Inc. 108
#14 Brunswick Corporation 85
#15 Suzuki Motor Corporation 80
#16 Mahle International Gmbh 78
#17 Andreas Stihl Ag & Co. KG 69
#18 Transportation IP Holdings, Llc 66
#19 FCA US Llc. 60
#20 Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd. 59

About This Class

CPC subclass F02B belongs to class F02.

11,001 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F02B assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 F02B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F02B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 F02B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F02B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520 050010001500 Patents in F02B Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Ford GlobalBorgwarnerMazda MotorCaterpillarCumminsMitsubishi Heavy Indu…Pratt & Whitney CanadaIhiGarrett Transportatio…Nissan MotorYamaha HatsudokiVolvo TruckAchates PowerBrunswick
Top 14 F02B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F02B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class F02B?
CPC subclass F02B covers INTERNAL-COMBUSTION PISTON ENGINES; COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL. It belongs to CPC class F02 (COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS), with 11,001 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in F02B?
11,001 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass F02B between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in F02B?
Ford Global Technologies, Llc leads F02B with 1,028 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for F02B collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., F02) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like F02B provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.